Whatever It Takes
by Yandeim Nareim
Summary: What if James and Lily had their wands on them the night Voldemort came to kill them? Would James have stood a chance against Voldemort? Would James and Lily take him on together? Or would James even survive long enough for anything to change? Rated M just in case for occasional innuendo and violence (they're in a war after all). AU
1. Prologue

_**A/N: So, this is my first story in a long time. I've been working on and off on a pretty large HP Fan Fiction, and unfortunately, I haven't actually gotten as far as I have wanted to on it. Work takes up too much time. But I got the inspiration for this fic in my mind, and I honestly couldn't get it out, so I wanted to at least start writing it. I'm pretty motivated to write it, but went ahead and posted this start already (instead of doing what I learned is much smarter and getting well into the story before posting it up so that I can stay consistent with updates) to see what he response is to it. If no one seems interested, it'll probably just stay in my head :(**_

 _ **So, I want to go ahead and set the expectations for this story, so no one ends up disappointed. While James and Lily and Harry do all survive in this story, it isn't a story whose primary focus is James and Lily parenting Harry. This is first and foremost a James/Lily fic, with a lot of Marauder interaction, and yes, some parenting of Harry, obviously. But that is not the focus, so this isn't that type of fic. There are plenty of other incredible fan fics that focus on that if that's what you're looking for.**_

 _ **This first chapter, or rather prologue, is going to be the day from each character's perspective (James's, Lily's, Remus's, and Sirius's). And then, moving forward, it will be mainly from James's perspective, with Lily's perspective coming in quite often as well. Also, when I say from their perspective, I mean third person limited. I don't think I'm very good at first person. And one last thing, I'm American, not English. So I apologize if the characters sound too American. I'm not great at English slang, but I'll do my best. Anyway, without further ado, here is my brainworm! I hope it is enjoyable!**_

 **Description: What if James and Lily had their wands on them the night Voldemort came to kill them? Would James have stood a chance against Voldemort? Would James and Lily take him on together? Or would James even survive long enough for anything to change?**

 _-*-James-*-_

James made rainbow smoke come out of his wand in short little puffs. Every time he did so, Harry would reach and try to grab it, and when his tiny fist closed around the smoke and not be able to actually grab it, he would laugh. James joined in the laughter, his heart soaring as it did every time he made Harry smile.

He heard the door open and turned to see Lily. It was crazy how, even after a year of dating and three years of marriage, his heart still started beating faster every time he saw her.

"And how is my baby doing?" she said with a radiant smile on her face.

"He's enjoying his quality time with his son, of course," James replied jokingly, pocketing his wand and handing Harry over to Lily.

He yawned and stretched, tired as he always was. He found it impossible to believe that the inability to release all of his energy could exhaust him so much. Suddenly, his ears perked up as he thought he heard something outside. He glanced out the window, but saw nothing. However, it was less than a second before his ears were proven correct. An explosion sounded from the front door.

James's mind immediately changed gears, from lazy and happy to protection mode. In the blink of an eye, his wand was in his hand and he was at the front door, looking upon the embodiment of evil: Voldemort. James's blood ran cold as Voldemort stepped over the threshold into the Potter household. His household.

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!" he yelled out as loudly as possible, unable to keep the panic out of his voice.

But his mind was in protection mode, and his reflexes served him well. Voldemort laughed and a jet of green light left his wand, but James had already pointed his wand at the nearest vase and moved it in front of him just in time. It shattered into a million tiny pieces as the curse hit it. James could hear Lily screaming from the second floor of their home. What was she doing? Why hadn't she taken Harry and apparated yet?!

But James had no time to think about that. If he was going to hold off Voldemort long enough for her to escape, he had to focus. He cast a stunner at Voldemort, but he deflected it as easily as he breathed. In a flash, green light was flying towards James again, and he only had time to leap out of the way this time. As he hit the ground, he flicked his wand again at Voldemort, this time sending a blasting curse at him. Again, a simple flick of the wand was all Voldemort needed to deflect the spell. He sent a third killing curse towards James, and, on the floor, all James could do to avoid it was apparate. He apparated to Voldemort's left, but Voldemort was not surprised. With another simple flick of his wand, James was slammed into the wall. As he slid down, there was no mistaking the loud _crack_ that sounded from above. Voldemort's face contorted into anger as he knew exactly what James knew.

"They're gone! And you'll never find them!" James taunted, ignoring the pain coursing through his back.

Voldemort let out a high shriek of anger and turned to James with fire in his cold eyes. He aimed his wand.

" _Cru-_ "

But James apparated before Voldemort could complete the curse. He no longer needed to occupy Voldemort. Lily and Harry had gotten away, so it was his turn to get away now. He apparated to Lupin's house, just outside the barrier. His feet hit the cold earth, and he dropped to his knees. His mind was working a mile a minute, and none of the thoughts were good. Lily and Harry had managed to get away, but Lily was smart. She knew that to keep Harry safe, she would have to go into hiding, even from him. He would not be seeing his wife and son any time soon, and his heart ached at the thought. But then, a whole other emotion took over him, fueling his entire body with fire. Peter had betrayed them, and put not only his life, but Lily's and Harry's lives, into Voldemort's hands. He hadn't thought it possible. None of his friends would ever betray him. But it was the only explanation. There was no other way Voldemort could have gotten through the Fidelius Charm. Peter was going to pay…

 _-*-Lily-*-_

Lily walked into the sitting room to see her two favorite people playing together. James was making puffs of smoke appear out of his wand, and Harry was grasping at it and laughing like crazy. She couldn't suppress the massive smile taking over her face.

"And how is my baby doing?" she asked.

"He's enjoying his quality time with his son, of course," James joked.

Lily laughed as she took Harry into her arms. Almost instantly, she heard an explosion from the front door. James was out of the sitting room and into the hall so quickly, it was as if he had apparated. He was yelling, but only two of his words processed in Lily's mind.

" _It's him!_ "

Lily held Harry tighter and sprinted up the stairs. She slammed the door behind her and locked it with a flick of her wand. She heard screaming, and she wasn't sure if it was coming from her or Harry. She heard blasts from downstairs. Would James be able to survive?! She was hysterical, sick with worry about her husband and her baby. She had to calm down if she were going to apparate without risking splinching herself or Harry. She sat Harry in his crib, clutching the sides of it and trying to breath. After taking in multiple deep breaths, her mind started to clear. She lightly brushed her hand on Harry's head to calm him down as well. As soon as she fully regained her cool, she took down the anti-apparition ward, she picked Harry back up, and spun, apparating away from her home and the love of her life.

She reappeared in her abandoned childhood home. Her parents had died about a year prior, and the house hadn't been put on the market. She was too busy being in hiding, and Petunia was too busy with goodness knows what. The house had clearly fallen into disarray, but it was the only place that she could think of. She quickly put up a number of defensive enchantments to prevent Voldemort from tracking her down. She walked into her childhood room, vanished the thick dust with a wave of her wand, and carefully sat Harry down on her old bed. Then, finally done protecting her child, she broke down. She dropped to her knees and tears started flowing as she realized that she couldn't return to James. And that's even if he managed to survive the night…

 _-*-Remus-*-_

Remus heard a loud crack from outside, and alarms started blaring inside his house. He had anti-apparition wards set for a 100 foot radius from his house, and other enchantments set for an additional 150 feet past that to alert him any time anyone got close. His house was a very small house, with just a sitting room, a kitchen, a small bedroom, and a bathroom. He had been living with the Potters until James's parents passed and and James had married Lily and they moved into their own place. As a full time Order member (not that he would've been able to get a job even if that weren't the case), he had no money to afford a house, and he had refused to continue to mooch off of James. He had gone to Dumbledore, and Dumbledore had offered him this place, one of the many safe houses he had across the country.

Lupin grabbed his wand, holding it out defensively before him as he walked out of the front door and warily approached the intruder. The last quarter moon reflected off of the intruder's glasses, and briefly illuminated a mass of unruly raven hair.

"Prongs?" Lupin breathed as a grin broke across his face. It had been a while since he had seen his friend.

But he noticed something was wrong as he got closer to James. He could hear James's heavy breathing as he approached, and James wasn't moving. Lily and Harry were nowhere to be found. When James visited, Lily and Harry always tagged along as well, except for on the full moon. So why was he visiting now, in the middle of the night, unplanned, without his family? And why was he on the ground, not moving.

"James? What has happened?" Lupin asked cautiously once he arrived in front of James.

He grabbed James's shoulder, and James flinched, backing away from the touch as if he had been burned. It seemed he had just noticed Lupin was even there. Lupin saw a mixture of panic and utter loathing on James's face, and as the half moon illuminated his eyes, they were burning with fire. Something truly bad had happened.

"James? What's going on? Wait, first, what was the first nickname Sirius suggested you go by before we landed on Prongs?"

"Wh-what?" James sounded utterly confused. Finally, he seemed to settle down a little. "Oh, Moony. What did you say?"

"I asked what was the first nickname Sirius suggested for you before we decided to go with Prongs?"

"The Horny One," James responded, and the complete and total lack of emotion and lack of humor behind the answer made Lupin worry even more. "What was the first name I suggested for the Marauder's Map?"

"The Map We Can Use to Spy on All the Fittest Birds in Hogwarts," Lupin answered with a ghost of a grin and nostalgia in spite of his concern. "James. Tell me what has happened. You're really scaring me."

Lupin extended his hand, and James, seeming lucid for the first time since he had arrived, accepted his proffered hand and finally stood. Lupin led the way back to the house, and James sat on the sitting room couch, and buried his head in his hands. Lupin started making tea, waiting as patiently as he could (not very) for James to finally explain what was going on.

"He showed up at the house," James finally said.

"He? Who? No! Not…"

"Yup. Voldemort," James replied.

"No! But, how?! Sirius?! No way! He wouldn't ever give you up! Wait, where are Lily and Harry?! Don't tell me…"

"No, he didn't get to them. They got away," James said quickly. Lupin breathed a large sigh of relief. "And you're as flabbergasted as I was, Moony. But it wasn't Padfoot."

"What do you mean?" Lupin asked in confusion. "He was the secret keeper."

"He...he wasn't. I'm sorry, Moony. I wanted to tell you, I really did. I trust you completely. But Padfoot...it wasn't that he didn't trust you. It really wasn't. It's just that he didn't know who to trust."

"Prongs, what are you talking about?" Lupin asked, getting more and more confused by the second.

"Padfoot...he...he came up with a plan. A bluff. Everyone would think he would be the secret keeper. Even Voldemort. So we told everyone he was the secret keeper. We made everyone believe he was, even you and Dumbledore. But it was really Pettigrew." Lupin was shocked at the venom in James's voice as he spat out their other friend's name. James hadn't referred to Peter by his last name only since their early school days. "We made him our secret keeper to throw everyone off. But it seems the plan was flawed. Voldemort showed up at our house. The only way that's possible...Pettigrew betrayed us. Betrayed all of us. Betrayed Lily and Harry," he finished, and Lupin was actually frightened at the pure hatred that was permeating James's words. He hadn't heard James use that tone, ever.

Lupin wasn't sure what to say, but he was spared having to say anything, as alarms started blaring again. Before he even had a chance to turn off the alarms or go outside to see who it was, Sirius's panicked voice was shouting louder than any of the alarms as his voice got louder and louder. He was sprinting towards the house.

"REMUUUSSSS!"

 _-*-Sirius-*-_

Something already didn't feel right. He wasn't sure what had happened or was happening, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. He tried to ignore it, but he couldn't. It had been bothering him all day, and the feeling was intensifying. He had to go to Peter's, just to make sure nothing had happened to him. If Voldemort had somehow found out they had tricked him and attacked Peter, he would never forgive himself. He finally made it past his own anti-apparition wards, and quickly turned. A quick moment of rough, uncomfortable squeezing, and he was 100 feet away from Peter's house. None of the windows showed any light. But the door seemed perfectly intact. He didn't see any signs of damage.

He approached the door warily, drawing his wand. He carefully grasped the door handle, turning it slowly. It wasn't locked. That wasn't a good sign. Sirius lit his wand and proceeded into the dark house. He strained his ears, but heard nothing. Maybe Peter was just asleep. It wasn't very late, but maybe he was just stressed and went to sleep early. So Sirius proceeded up the stairs and towards Peter's bedroom. Again, the door wasn't locked. He slipped inside and held his wand high to cast a light through the whole room. It was completely empty. Peter wasn't in his bed or in his rocking chair.

Sirius was really starting to get worried now. What could possibly be going on. Where was Peter? He started searching the house thoroughly, but there was no sign of a struggle, and Peter was nowhere to be found. This wasn't right. Peter should be here. If he was going to go somewhere, he would've told them. Sirius's heart was racing. He was seriously worried now. He had to check on the Potters. Make sure nothing had happened. He spun, and a moment later, he was 100 feet away from the Potters' house.

Or at least what was left of it. His heart stopped. His breath caught in his throat and his lungs constricted. He couldn't breathe. What was a perfectly normal house less than 24 hours previously, when Sirius had visited, was no a smoking pile of rubble. He slowly looked up, and saw the green skull and snake. Sirius dropped to his knees. His best friend. Lily. His godson. They...they were gone. Peter had betrayed them, but he couldn't even process that. Not with what lay before him. 3 of the most important people in his life. Two of the only people who truly loved him. The first person to ever ignore his family, ignore his past, and accept him for who he was. The one who he had countless memories with that would last forever. His best friend in the world. No, James was more than that. He wasn't related by blood, but James was his brother. And now he was gone. Reduced to ashes in a pile of rubble. Erased from the world like he had never existed. Sirius didn't know that he had started crying, but he now felt how wet his face was. He still was in shock. What about Remus? Did Remus know. Was _he_ safe. Recklessly, Sirius turned and apparated again. It was risky with his emotional state, but he had to check on the only person left that mattered.

His feet met the ground and he was instantly running as fast as he could towards the small house, screaming his lungs out.

"REMUUUSSSS! REMUS! ARE YOU THERE?!"

Lupin came darting out of the house with his wand raised. Instantly Sirius drew his wand and pointed it straight at him.

"Who was my first kiss?!" Sirius demanded of him.

"Marlene McKinnon. And you liked it a lot more than she did," Lupin answered calmly. "What was the first thing you ordered from the house elves when we found the kitchens in second year?"

"The biggest chocolate cake they could possibly make. It took the four of us a month to finally finish it," Sirius replied.

He sprinted at Lupin and wrapped him in a tight hug. At least one person that he cared about was still left. And now he felt ashamed for thinking Lupin could've been the traitor. It was Peter all along. Sirius should've seen it. He should've trusted Lupin.

"Come on inside, Padfoot. Prongs is already here. I've already verified him," Lupin said.

The words washed over Sirius like ice, and in less than a second, he was in front of the James impersonator, his left hand gripping his collar and his right sticking his wand against his throat.

"You son of-" he started before James yelled back.

"Padfoot?! What the h-"

"Shut up! How did you get by Remus's verification?! Who are you?!"

"It's me, James, you prat!" James responded irritably. "Will you get your wand off of my thr-"

"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! What were the first nicknames I suggested for us?! If you're my best friend, ANSWER THAT!" Sirius yelled deliriously.

"I was The Horny One, you were Oh Great Shaggy Awesomeness, Pettigrew the slimeball was The Tiny Squeaky Pet, and Remus was He Who Howls," James answered, trying to calm Sirius down while still eying the wand that was started to leave a mark on his neck.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT, IMPOSTER?!" Sirius roared.

"PADFOOT! IT'S ME! The first night at Hogwarts, you and I stayed up until 3 in the morning talking about how we would prank the first teacher we met. When that turned out to be McGonagall, we decided we'd better hold off for a while. So we ended up pranking Dumbledore instead. When he called us into his office, we were both terrified. And then he ended up laughing and telling us what an awesome prank it was. How could anyone but me know that?!"

Sirius couldn't believe it. It really was James. He was alive.

"Oh thank God!" he said, throwing his arms around James as relief washed over him. But it was short-lived.

"Wait. But he left the mark over your house. Don't tell me, Harry and Lily are…"

"No, they got away. He must've just cast it in frustration. He was livid when Lily apparated away. He was about to torture me, but I managed to get away as well," James explained.

Sirius fell back to the floor, wiping away the sweat that had gathered on his forehead. "Thank God. I don't know what I would've done if any of you were dead. I thought the worst had happened when I saw the wreckage and the mark."

"Calm down Padfoot. They're all alright. We all are," Lupin, who had finally re-entered the house, said. He disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared with three cups of tea. They all drank.

"Well, you know what we do now, don't you?" Lupin asked.

"Of course," James said, rage and pure unadulterated hatred filling his voice once again. "We find out where that piece of trash is, and show him what happens to people who betray their friends and give up my wife and son to Voldemort."

 _ **A/N: So there you have it, the prologue to my most persistent brainworm. I hope everyone enjoyed it and is interested to see where it goes. I know I am! Please review! Tell me what you liked. Tell me what you hated. Tell me what you expect to happen. Tell me about your day. What's your favorite color? Whatever you want to say, just please review! Did everyone seem in character? I hope so!**_


	2. Chapter 1: Rescue Mission

_**-*-Lily-*-**_

" _Look, Lily, I'm sorry. I really am," James said softly._

" _Give it a rest, Potter. We both know that's not true, so just...just don't bother," Lily said, exercising a great deal of restraint in not hexing him on the spot._

" _No, Lily," James said, grabbing her shoulders and staring intently into her eyes. "I will bother, because I truly am sorry. I'm trying to be better with this kind of stuff, and I honestly have been. I just...I can't help it when you're around. I lose control, and I turn into an idiot when you're around. You have this effect on me. I can't really explain it." His hand flew to his hair, and for some odd reason, it didn't bother Lily as much as it usually did. "Just, please trust me. I'm getting better. I haven't even hexed Snape in over a week. And the last two times, he started it. You can ask Remus. He'll tell you. It's driving Sirius crazy, though," James finished with a shade of his usual smirk showing._

" _Why? Why do you suddenly care? I've yelled at you for over five years and it's never stopped you before. Why do you suddenly care what I think?" Lily asked, and James's eyes softened briefly._

" _I've…" James sighed, as if he was going to say something, but changed his mind. "Because, I get it. We all do. The four of us, I mean. For years, everything was a joke. It didn't really matter what we did, because it was all just a laugh. But the world is starting to settle in. Hexing some Hufflepuff for a laugh and then sending them an anonymous sweets package a week later to make up for it isn't the same when you know that a year and a half later, they could be standing beside you on a battlefield."_

" _A battlefield?" Lily asked skeptically._

" _Come on, Lily. We all know where this crap is heading. That psychopath isn't going to stop until someone makes him stop. Everyone is going to end up fighting. At least, the four of us are."_

" _But you and Black are purebloods…"_

" _Really, Lily? That hurts. I can't believe you think that lowly of us. We couldn't care less about the so-called purity of our blood. Voldemort tortures and kills people because of who their parents are, and that's sick. Sure, we could just stand by because we're safe, but what about Peter? And Remus? And you? And everyone else in this school that isn't a pureblood? Or all the Muggles outside our world that are just going about their lives, no idea that some psychopathic mass murderer wants them all dead? We couldn't live with ourselves if we could've saved someone, but didn't just because we were safe without fighting."_

 _James's hazel eyes seemed to glow gold as he spoke, and for the briefest of seconds, Lily was mesmerized. For that brief second, Lily could understand why so many other girls had fallen for him. She felt like this was the first time that she was seeing the genuine James, and his passion brought a whole new quality to him that was inexplicably attractive._

" _James, I…" she didn't miss the grin that took over his face when she used his first name._

 _But then, everything went wrong. He gasped, and looked down at his stomach. Lily followed his gaze, and a pool of blood was spreading._

" _James?!"_

" _Lily, take Harry and go! It's him!"_

 _James's glasses fell off his face, and there was a flash of green light and a high, cold laugh._

Lily jerked awake, tears staining her face. She rubbed her eyes and looked over at Harry, who was still sleeping peacefully. The entire night had passed like this. Every time she finally managed to drift off to sleep, her dreams took one of her happy memories from school and twisted it into what might have happened to James back at their house. It was driving Lily mad, and she had already puked once. She had no idea if he had survived, and she couldn't stop picturing his lifeless face, with Voldemort standing over him and laughing.

She looked out the window, and saw the navy of the sky being replaced by the pinks and purples of dawn. The sun would be rising soon, which meant that the _Daily Prophet_ should be arriving within the next hour or so. With the knowledge of James's fate so close at hand, she knew there was no way she was going to get back to sleep. She knew that if Voldemort had killed James, there was no way it wouldn't be in the _Prophet_. This was a man who was a prominent Order member, had evaded Voldemort three times, and taken out multiple Death Eaters. If Voldemort finally managed to take him out, he would make sure the world knew it.

Once the _Prophet_ arrived, Lily was going to get Harry and apparate to somewhere else. Her parents' house worked for the night, but she knew she couldn't stay for very long. It was too connected to her, and Voldemort would certainly find her there. She had to pick somewhere that made no sense, and she would also have to be moving frequently. The thought wasn't helping her in the whole "going mad" aspect. She would much rather go right back to Order headquarters and fight alongside her husband again (assuming and hoping he was still alive). But that wasn't an option. Not with Harry. She had to watch out for Harry, which meant going on the run.

She started pacing. She couldn't keep sitting still. She had to be moving. Staying still was just making everything worse. She had to keep her mind off of it all. She tried just focusing on the house, and on each step she took. It took every bit of mental willpower she had to stop picturing James's lifeless face, or his face contorted in pain. Finally, she heard a tapping on the window, and saw an owl with the _Prophet_. She was instantly at the window, ripping it open, and paying the owl and then scoured the paper.

It didn't take long to find what she was looking for. In fact, it was on the front page. She saw the wreckage of her home, with the Dark Mark hovering high over it. She scanned the article and found the miraculous words, "all three Potters are still missing,". Indescribable relief washed over her, warming her body from head to toe, and she felt her mouth curl into the first real smile since the night before, watching James play with Harry. She couldn't stop smiling as she sat down, running her hand through her messy hair as she started to think about where she might need to go next.

 _ **-*-James-*-**_

"Okay, so he knows that it was tonight. Otherwise he would've been at home," James said after Sirius explained that he had gone to Peter's earlier.

"Exactly. Or would have let one of us know where he was going," Sirius replied.

"So he won't show up at headquarters and he most likely won't be returning to his house. That'll make finding him more difficult," Remus said.

James sighed. "Do you think we'll really have a chance of finding him? Or will he be with Voldemort's crew now?"

"I don't know. But I would really like to deal with him _personally_ rather than when he's grouped in with Voldemort's merry band of idiots. Too impersonal. Too quick. Not enough revenge," Sirius said savagely.

The fact that Remus, always the logical and compassionate one, did not do anything to tamper Sirius's fury spoke to just how much they all wanted revenge.

"There's no way Peter would put himself out there like this with no guarantee of safety. If he's revealed himself, he's definitely under Voldemort's protection now," James said after a while. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

"So then what do we do?" Sirius asked, his dark eyes flashing with anger.

"We tell Dumbledore what happened and we plan our next move with the whole Order," Remus suggested.

"He needs to die," James said, and the vitriol in his voice seemed to shock Remus and Sirius as they both looked at him. "Voldemort. He won't stop until he's dead, and I won't get to see Harry or Lily again until he stops. I hope to meet him face to face on the battlefield. I will make sure he regrets the day he set his sights on my family."

"Prongs, this is Voldemort we're talking about," Remus said bracingly. "I don't think it's wise to want to go toe to toe with him. Dumbledore needs to be the one to face him."

"I'm not so sure, Moony," Sirius said with a ghost of a grin on his face. "You didn't see James when he came at me after...after the incident," Sirius said, and all three of them knew what he was referring to. "I've never seen him so angry. It was actually quite frightening...sexy, too," he added with a bark of a laugh.

It worked. The tension was effectively diffused, and it felt good to actually laugh again. James was truly grateful for Sirius. He was always able to lighten any situation up, and goodness knew that's what he needed right now.

"Don't we already have a meeting tomorrow night?" James asked. Remus nodded. "We'll tell Dumbledore then. I'm itching to get back out there and start ending more Death Eaters. I'm been going mad. Lily, too. Don't get me wrong, we of course put Harry's safety first, so we understood exactly why we were in hiding, and we were happy to do it. And of course it's great being able to spend so much time with Harry. But goodness, you guys have no idea how much you can feel like a useless lump sitting at home when others are out fighting. Everyone in the Order is putting everything on the line to ensure a better world for our children to grow up in, and we can't even help."

"Well, we could definitely use you. Things haven't been going great," Sirius said with a wince.

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"Sturg got captured in a battle last week," Sirius said quietly, looking down at his hands.

"Sturgis?! What?" James asked, shocked.

"We've been trying to put together a rescue team, but no one knows where they took him. There's no telling how much torture he's been put through, if he's still even alive," Remus said very quietly. There was a resigned tone in his voice. And also guilt.

"You weren't there for that battle, were you," James said, after looking out the window at the night sky. The moon was a relatively new crescent.

"Moony, how many times do we have to tell you that you aren't needed in _every_ battle and Dumbledore understands. More than half the order was in this fight, including Minnie and Aberforth. One additional soldier, no matter how good you are mate, wouldn't have saved Sturgis," Sirius said seriously, resting his hand on Remus's shoulder. Remus gave him a weak smile in thanks.

"Well, what more epic way to return to the fight than as a part of a rescue mission?" James said, his hand flying to his hair again. "We _will_ find Sturgis, and we _will_ save him. If we get a shot at that rat in the process, that's just icing."

"Blimey, this'll be fun. We haven't all gone on the hunt since Hogwarts. The Marauders, back at it again!" Sirius said with a gleam in his eye before the noticeable absence in the room at the name "Marauders" turned the mood immediately back to somber again.

"Ugh, I'm sick of this dreary mood!" Remus said angrily. "You guys are the most optimistic people I know. So we were betrayed by one of our closest friends. We knew _someone_ was doing it. This isn't news. James, Lily, and Harry all got away and survived. I understand things suck, but you're all bloody alive! Things could be worse! Now let's get to planning this rescue! If anyone can figure this out, it's you two!"

"Aw, don't sell yourself short, Moony. You always were the brainy one. James is just the muscle," Sirius said brightly.

"And where does that leave you? The useless one?" James asked with a grin.

"You wound me, Prongs! I am the _sexy_ one, of course!"

They all laughed and James was glad for it. He couldn't ask for better friends than this. Remus was right. He wasn't guaranteed to be able to see Lily and Harry for a long time, but things _could_ be worse. That he knew of, there was no other couple in the world that could say they had escaped Voldemort _four times_.

"I don't suppose we could expand a Homonculous Charm that wide?" suggested Sirius.

"There's no way. For that to work, we'd have to map out the entirety of wizarding England. And that's assuming he's even _in_ England. The rat was always the drawer anyway," James said.

"Hmm, do you think we could specify a specific person in the Human-Presence-Revealing Spell and use that widely?" Sirius suggested.

"It might be possible, but it would be insanely difficult. It would take too long to develop something like that. Sturgis has been gone for almost a week. We don't have that kind of time. I think we're going about it the wrong way, though. If there was a way to find him with some sort of spell, Dumbledore could have done it already. We've got to use our creative skills, not magical skills," Remus said.

"You're right, Moony," Sirius said.

He scratched his scruffy chin, lost in thought. James took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. They all sat quietly for quite a while, lost in though. Then something occurred to James.

"Where was this battle?" he asked.

"Just outside of Bristol," Sirius answered, furrowing his brow. "Why?"

"What caused the battle?" James pressed further.

"We got a tip that there was an attack planned and we intercepted a large group of Death Eaters," Sirius said slowly, still confused. Remus, however, seemed to follow James's train of thought. His mouth dropped open and comprehension dawned on his face.

"So they wanted to attack Bristol but you stopped them," he said.

"Yes," Sirius said simply, trying to catch on.

"Voldemort's cocky and he doesn't like failure. Especially not when Muggles are concerned," James said, and Sirius finally caught on.

"Of course! We stopped him from attacking a tightly packed Muggle city! He wanted to cause death and destruction of a lot of Muggles, but we prevented that. And there were no casualties on our side. Just the one capture. This was a complete and total failure on their part. Voldemort would be livid!"

"Exactly. The Death Eaters would not have moved base. They're going to want to try again. Going back to Voldemort with complete failure would be disastrous. They'll want to attack Bristol again to please their dear old master," James said.

"So wherever they're staying and keeping Sturgis, it's got to be somewhat close to Bristol!" Sirius exclaimed. "Screw waiting till tomorrow. We've got to get this done tonight. I'm not waiting till tomorrow to let Dumbledore know about Peter and Sturgis. Dumbledore will be at Hogwarts right?"

"Most likely. If not him, surely dear Minnie will be," James said with a grin.

Sirius grinned back, and flicked his wand. A giant silver dog leapt from his wand and flew through the wall into the night. James got up and started pacing. He felt energized. He was itching to go on the rescue mission now. Having a plan revitalized him, made him feel more alert and ready than he had since he got away from Voldemort. He was going to get to do something. He was going to start down the road of getting his wife and son back. It didn't matter how much he had to do, how many times he had to fight, he was going to get them back. No matter what.

James wasn't sure how long it really was, but with his mind spinning and his body surging with adrenaline, it seemed to only be a few minutes before a shining silver phoenix burst through the wall into the sitting room.

"Meeting in the Great Hall. 1:30 AM."

With that, the phoenix vanished. James's head shot to the clock on the wall. It was already 1:10. He had no idea it was so late.

"Okay, I'll go get my broomsticks, give me just a minute," Remus said, and he disappeared into his bedroom.

A minute later, he was back in the sitting room carrying three broomsticks. He handed one each to Sirius and James, and then they all turned on the spot, and James was now looking at them with the backdrop of Hogsmeade village instead of Remus's sitting room. James didn't take a second to admire the village he hadn't seen in months. He immediately mounted his broom and shot off like a bullet towards the castle in the distance, Remus and Sirius right behind him.

Remus's Shooting Star wasn't quite the standard James was used to, compared to his Cleansweep Six, but it was serviceable. And with his heart rate somewhere in the 500s it seemed and adrenaline coursing through his veins, he barely noticed the speed. In fact, he didn't notice at all, because on top of those things, it simply felt good to be flying again. It had been way too long. They all landed right in front of the doors to the Entrance Hall and pushed them open.

"Wow, it's been way too long," Sirius breathed as they entered the Entrance Hall, childlike glee on his face. "So many memories."

James, despite his hectic and anxious state, couldn't help but stop and look around the hall, too. It was in this very hall where he first successfully asked Lily out. They had actually started to build a relationship somewhere in the middle of sixth year, and James slowly realized that what he had always thought was just a physical attraction to her that led him to jokingly make passes at her every now and then was actually something much deeper. And about a quarter of the way through seventh year, he finally asked her out for real, and she had agreed. And the rest was history. It was also the spot where he and Sirius devised the plan to become Animagi, and where they all four had tried out his Invisibility Cloak for the first time after his dad gave it to him for Christmas in second year. Which, now that he thought about it, he would need to get back from Dumbledore.

They made their way to the Great Hall to see Dumbledore and McGonagall already there, and a smattering of other Order members. Dumbledore and McGonagall were in deep conversation, and James heard them saying something about the other heads of house making sure their students were all in bed before coming to the Great Hall as well. As time moved by, more and more Order members arrived, along with Flitwick, Slughorn, and Alexa Smith, the Hufflepuff Head of House.

Soon, the Great Hall held nearly every Order member. Sturgis Podmore was missing, of course. The others that were missing must have been out on missions already.

"I sincerely apologize for the late hour. I am sure some of you were already cozy and fast asleep in your beds, but I appreciate you all showing up. I must give the floor to Mr Black, though, as he is the one who alerted me that we needed to have an emergency meeting as soon as possible," Dumbledore said once everyone was present and seated. He stepped aside, taking a seat himself as the three Marauders took the floor.

There were several gasps among the Order members, seeing James out and about, and without Harry and Lily. Dumbledore looked at the Marauders pensively, giving James his xray-like stare.

"Well, I'm sure everyone has noticed that Peter Pettigrew is not present," Sirius started, and there were several nods throughout the room. A few people looked around as if they hadn't noticed yet, which was probably true. Sometimes, Peter was rather invisible to others. James wished he had left Peter that way instead of befriending him and accepting him into their group so many years ago.

"Well, unfortunately, there is a rather grim reason for that," he continued. He scratched the back of his head, glancing at James, unsure of how exactly to continue.

"First, we must reveal to you all a secret. I'm sure all of you believed that Sirius was our Secret Keeper," James started. "That is because that is what we wanted you to believe. That is what we wanted everyone to believe. But, Sirius actually came up with a great plan. He, Peter, Lily, and myself were the only ones who knew of this plan. Sirius was not the Secret Keeper. Peter was."

Again several gasps sounded throughout the Hall, echoing eerily. "Oh no! What happened to him?" Hagrid asked in a gruff voice filled with concern.

"Nothing _happened to him_!" James spat, unable to keep the hostile tone out of his voice. He took a few calming breaths and continued. "Sorry, I've just been through a lot tonight. He...Peter betrayed us. He gave us up to Voldemort, and Voldemort attacked our home tonight."

The gasps again ripped through the air, sharply this time. The tension in the room immediately shot up, and everyone was looking at James with a mixture of pity and shared fury.

"We managed to get away, but Lily and Harry are now on the run, and even I must be kept in the dark about their location. Our home was destroyed, but, luckily, we're all okay. We all talked," he said, indicating the we referred to Sirius and Remus, "and we're pretty sure the only way to find him is to find Voldemort. We know Peter pretty well….or, at least, we though we did. I should say we know his _personality_ pretty well. He doesn't like to risk his own safety without assurance of a protector. Since he showed himself as a traitor, he's sure to be groveling next to the big baddie himself."

"But that's not all. This isn't just an informative meeting. We also need to plan the rescue mission of Sturgis Podmore. We're pretty sure we have an idea of where he might be."

Several people whooped and clapped at the good news. Old Alexa Smith actually gave a standing ovation. Sturgis had been a Hufflepuff prefect after all.

"Now, don't get too over excited, everyone," Sirius said seriously. "We don't know exactly where he is. But we have strong reason to believe that the Death Eaters are keeping him somewhere near Bristol, where they originally captured him. We believe they will be looking to attack Bristol again to protect them from Voldemort's fury at their failure, but are waiting until they can glean some information from Sturgis. And because the second attack hasn't happened yet, we also believe that this might mean he is still alive."

Sirius's request not to get over excited seemed to have fallen on deaf ears, because, at his words, another cheer rang throughout the room. The room immediately fell silent, though, as Dumbledore stood and took his place alongside the Marauders at the head of the room, facing the members of the Order.

"I have recently acquired a possible spy among the Death Eaters, and have been waiting for a chance to prove his loyalty. I will check with him, and if he agrees that Sturgis is in Bristol, we will mobilize a rescue team."

The room cheered again at Dumbledore's words. It was their first bit of good news, of hope, since Sturgis had been taken, and they were glad to hear it. After the deaths of Benjy Fenwick and Caradoc Dearborn, things were getting very grim for the Order, so any bit of hope was welcome. James couldn't even keep a smile from forming on his face in appreciation of the excitement of the members.

"But, sir, we can't afford to wait!" Sirius argued. "Sturgis may be on his last leg already."

"I am not suggesting we wait," Dumbledore responded calmly. "It will only take a moment to confer with the spy."

And with that, Dumbledore left the room, leaving many confused faces in his wake.

"Is-Is the spy in the school?" Slughorn asked loudly.

"Don't be preposterous! Albus is surely going to his office to communicate with the spy!" McGonagall replied angrily.

"Why haven't we heard of this spy sooner? Why didn't he confer with the spy immediately?" Frank Longbottom asked.

"He wouldn't want to rely on information from the spy without having something to go off of to prove his loyalty. If not a loyal spy, he could've led us into a trap," Remus reasoned.

After a few more moments, Dumbledore returned. He made rather of show of closing the door and walking to the front of the room, James thought. Everyone was waiting with bated breath for him to speak.

"The spy has confirmed a location just outside of Bristol for where they are staying and keeping Sturgis," he said calmly, but with a hint of amusement in his eyes as deafening cheers filled the room.

"Good thing I cast a silencing charm on the room before the meeting, or the entire student body would be awake now," Dumbledore muttered to the Marauders as the cheers continued.

"We will mobilize a rescue team this very moment," he continued once the cheers died down. "Are there any volunteers?"

The words had no sooner left his mouth than every hand in the room shot into the air.

"We can't possibly send this large of a rescue team," McGonagall said, though James could've sworn her lips were slightly less straight than usual.

"Minerva is right, of course. We will need a team of no more than five people. Also, Frank and Alice, you cannot participate in this mission. I need to speak with you privately once the meeting is over," Dumbledore said with a meaningful glance towards the Longbottoms.

"Sir, please allow me to participate in this mission. I haven't seen action in months, and I'm ready to get back out there and fight for my wife and son!" James pleaded.

"I cannot be sure that you are in a proper emotional state, James" Dumbledore replied, looking at James with a calculating gaze.

"Please, sir. I am definitely in a proper emotional state. Sure, I'm angry, but I always was in missions before, and you know how good my record was. And I promise I'm not rusty either. Give me the chance to prove myself again. I can help on this mission!"

Dumbledore sighed. "Since it is you three who brought us the information, it is true I cannot deny any of you the opportunity to participate in this mission if you so wish."

James thanked him profusely, looking back to Sirius and Remus with a huge smile. Remus looked immensely grateful to be included, too. James knew he was happy to have a chance to expiate his guilt for not have been present for the first mission that initially got Sturgis captured. Dumbledore cast the rest of the room a thoughtful look, apparently wondering who else to assign on the mission.

"Alastor, Emmeline. You two will round out the rescue team along with James, Sirius, and Remus," he said, addressing the entire room again. "As I mentioned before, Frank and Alice, I need you to stay behind as I need to speak with you. The rest of you are dismissed. You will be informed by Patronus when the mission is complete of the results."

There was a large exodus of the room as the remaining Order members and the heads of houses exited the Hall. Alastor and Emmeline joined the Marauders next to Dumbledore.

"Okay, the place where he is being held is a Death Eater safehouse just northeast of Bristol, about 5 kilometers away. It is not around any other buildings, so you should be able to spot it from the air easily if you apparate to Bristol and just fly northeast. It is a dark stone building, with a domed roof. Most of it is underground, so it isn't very tall. Get in, find Sturgis, and get out with him. This is _not_ an attack on the safehouse. This is a rescue mission _only_. We will worry about an attack once Sturgis is safe and healing. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," all five of them replied.

"You are dismissed. Good luck."


	3. Chapter 2: Good News

**A/N: As it's never mentioned in the books, I took it upon myself to assign Moody's patronus. Hopefully everyone approves of the choice ;) I also made up a spell for the sake of the chapter. I hope nobody minds.**

 **Also, sorry about the long wait. The rescue mission was harder to write than I expected, and work and life kept getting in the way. I'm still not particularly pleased with the rescue mission, as I feel like it's poorly written. But I went over it multiple times, and I can't seem to improve upon it in any substantial way. I could just suck at writing that type of stuff. Let me know what you think!**

 _ **-*-Lily-*-**_

Lily stared at herself in the mirror, examining her blue eyes. Oddly enough, those were throwing her off more than her dirty blonde hair that was cut in a bob or her taller stature. Maybe it was because James had always complimented her eye color, which he described as a "brilliant emerald". Not that he hadn't complimented on her hair, height, weight, nose shape, lip size, ear placement, or whatever other ridiculous, random thing he could think of. But his favorite thing to compliment had always been her eyes. And staring at the very different blue eyes staring back at her made her just feel more separated from him.

She had to give herself a pat on her back, though. While she hadn't ever had her husband's flair at transfiguration, she did always consider himself competent in the subject (an O in both her OWL and NEWT in the subject would tend to give someone that confidence). But she still surprised herself with how effective the transfiguration was. Her first option would have been Polyjuice Potion (potions was always her go to), but a lack of supplies and time left that option as a distant second to transfiguring her appearance. She knew that the transfiguration wouldn't fool Voldemort, as a simple _Revelio_ would ruin it. But, her goal was to blend in and not draw attention to herself. If Voldemort was present, yes, _Revelio_ would be all that would be needed to ruin her disguise. But if he was looking for a "redheaded witch with a year old baby" (or simply Lily Potter, for the Death Eaters that knew her from school), then she would not cause anyone to bat an eye. She had even managed to whip up a solid aging potion (she had actually apparated to her friend Mary's recently abandoned home and stole some of her potions ingredients from her stores; she didn't feel guilty, as Mary would understand, and the place _had_ been abandoned) to make Harry appear a year older. Not that she had given it to him yet. She couldn't bear to do so. Not until it was necessary, which would be when (or if) she ever had to take him out in public.

She had apparated into a random Muggle town in southern Wales. She managed to find an abandoned and derelict house there, and with a couple of _Reparos_ and some of Mrs Potter's best housekeeping spells, it now functioned quite normally. Of course, it still looked abandoned and derelict to any passersby. She made sure of that. It also had every protective charm she knew on it. She was managing quite well, but she had reached a snag in her plans. Quite frankly, she needed money. She had to feed herself and Harry somehow. She had luckily had the presence of mind to have stuffed her money bag, which consisted of a couple of galleons, in her pocket before escaping their cottage that fateful night, so she could still receive the _Prophet_ for quite some time. But she could not go anywhere to convert from Wizarding money to Muggle money without leaving a "paper trail", or whatever they called it in the Wizarding World. Parchment trail? It didn't matter. The point was, she could be tracked if she did that. So, her only option to make money would be to work a Muggle job. Which would be all well and good, if she could think of a way to take care of Harry while she would've been at work. A Muggle babysitter obviously wouldn't work, as Harry's random spurts of uncontrolled magic would certainly freak any babysitter out. She looked at her adorable baby, sleeping away in his section of the bed (she had boxed him in with pillows to make sure he couldn't roll off the bed) without a care in the world. She sighed. She would figure something out. She had to.

 _ **-*-James-*-**_

They had all grabbed school brooms (James did so with great distaste), gotten to just outside the Hogwarts gates, and spun into oblivion, arriving an instant later at a spot just northeast of Bristol. Emmeline Vance double checked to make sure no Muggles had seen them apparate, and that they were still in the clear, and nodded. They all twirled their wands around themselves, and soon, James couldn't see any of them. He looked down at himself, seeing just the slightest shimmer of the air as he moved his hand around. He still much preferred his cloak to this form of invisibility, but you had to work with what you had available.

"Everyone mount," Moody growled.

James smirked in spite of himself. He couldn't see Sirius, but he had a pretty good idea that Sirius's lips were curved into a smirk as well. Nevertheless, James mounted his broom.

"Let's go!" Moody commanded, and James kicked off, hearing four other boots hit the ground as well.

It was rather odd, not being able to see himself, the broom he was holding, or any of the others. And yet, they were all still supposed to stay in a tight group of five. It's a good thing they all grabbed the same type of broom. Otherwise, in a distance of five kilometers, there's no telling how much distance would be between them. He kept mulling over the oddness of it all until Moody finally decided to release them from the awkward situation.

"Okay, we're well outside of any possibility of any Muggle sightings now," he said, and a second later, he shimmered back into existence, in the process of stowing his wand back inside his cloak.

James tapped his own head to release the Disillusionment Charm. He was glad to see that all five of them had managed to remain in a group. It wasn't much longer before they spotted the building Dumbledore had described. Without any need for anyone to point it out, they all descended together. The landed about a couple hundred meters away from the building.

"Rescue mission only," Moody growled at James, Sirius, and Remus.

James held up his hands in surrender, and Sirius and Remus nodded. They then all proceeded towards the building silently. As they got closer, James saw what Dumbledore had said about its height. Only about two or three meters were above ground, even including the domed roof. And yet, James still noticed a window once they arrived. He got everyone's attention and pointed it out. They all made sure to get out of sight from the window, and James peeked into it. He was looking down into a rather dark room, with two chairs situated in the middle, facing each other. James's heart leapt into his throat when he realized it was probably an "interrogation" (most likely, more adequately described as torture) room. But both chairs were empty. In fact, the room as a whole was empty. He actually was rather curious as to why a window was in an interrogation room to begin with. He figured the building probably was co-opted as a safe house by the Death Eaters, not created to be one.

Regardless, this was their way in. He kicked at the window furiously a couple of times, but to no avail. Either the glass was extremely thick, or was protected by some kind of charm. Emmeline rolled her eyes, coming up to the window and made a show of taking out her wand, giving James a look that quite clearly said 'You're a wizard, you bloody idiot,'. James just grinned sheepishly as she carefully placed a noise dampening charm on the window, and then blew it up with a Reductor Curse. They then all dropped themselves into the room, examining the rather small space. There were stains all around the walls and on the floor, and James didn't think it was much of a stretch to assume it was blood. He shivered involuntarily, imagining what Sturgis had gone through.

Sirius was the first to make his way to the sole door in the room, slowly opening it and looking both ways into the corridor beyond.

"No one is out there," he whispered to the group.

They all filed out into the corridor.

"We'll have to split up. Emmeline and myself will go this way," he said quietly, jerking his thumb behind him, "and you three go that way," he said, pointing forward. "If you don't find anything, rendezvous back here in an hour. If you do find Sturgis, get him and rendezvous back here in an hour. If you run into Death Eaters, take em down and rendezvous back here in an hour. If we don't return, come find us. We'll do the same if you don't return. Any questions?"

Everyone shook their heads, and then started in their specified direction. James found it disconcerting that everything was so silent. If the building was inhabited, there should at least be some noise from somewhere. They passed multiple doors as they continued down the corridor. At each one, one of them would first press an ear against the door to see if they could hear anything, and then slowly open the door. Each one turned out to be empty. They were all interrogation rooms like the one they had originally dropped into, all with windows just like the other one.

They eventually reached a stairwell that, predictably, only went down. They continued down it for what seemed like a very long time, but was probably only a minute or two realistically. They emerged in another corridor, and finally, they started hearing noises. Unfortunately, it sounded like screams. They all shared a significant look, and sprinted down the corridor towards the screams. They eventually reached an archway covered by a curtain. James peaked around the curtain seeing a large room with a high, vaulted ceiling. In the room was a group of about ten death eaters, all laughing as they tortured Sturgis and another woman that James didn't recognize. James gripped his wand tightly, his fingernails cutting in his palms as he tried to calm himself down. However, he did register one happy thought in his mind. Sturgis was still alive. He retracted from the curtain and looked at the other two.

"There's ten of them in there. I don't necessarily like our odds, three against ten," he said quietly.

"Five against ten," Emmeline's voice rang quietly from the other side of the corridor. Her and Moody were walking towards them. Apparently, the other side of the corridor led to another stairwell that also simply led here. "And we've faced worse odds before."

"Can't argue with that," Sirius said with a chuckle.

"Plus, we've got the advantage of surprise," Lupin said.

"Well, no sense in any further delay. Prongs, I believe you have a spell perfect for this situation?" Sirius prompted.

"I do indeed. Everyone, shield your eyes." They did so. James slipped his wand around the curtain, aiming in the general direction of the Death Eaters. " _Celemaco!"_

A blinding flash occurred, disorienting the Death Eaters. The five of them took the opening and stormed into the room. They sent stunners at the Death Eaters, and only three of them managed to regain their composure in time to dodge or block. But the Order members were faster and now outnumbered them, and with some well placed wand work from Moody and Sirius, the other three were down in just a few more moments. Emmeline was massaging her shoulder where a stinging jinx had hit her, but other than that, they were no worse for the wear.

James took in the scene in front of him. All ten Death Eaters stunned, Sturgis barely conscious, as was the other victim. She was a woman with disheveled brown, shoulder length hair, and half open brown eyes. Once James got a better look at her face, he gasped.

" _Marlene_?!"

"What?" Sirius exclaimed, whipping around. "Merlin! We thought you had been killed!"

Sirius was clearly expecting an answer, but Marlene was in no state to give one. Neither was Sturgis. Neither even seemed to register that the Order members were there, or that the Death Eaters had been defeated. Emmeline kneeled next to each of them, examining them quickly. She had some experience as a healer.

"They're completely out of it. Merlin, I hope they haven't sustained any permanent brain damage," she muttered quietly as she looked them over.

"What should we do about the scumbags?" Sirius asked. Everyone looked to Moody, who was the most senior member there, and had clearly taken the de facto leadership of the mission thus far.

He looked around the room. There were multiple doors leading deeper into the building.

"We can't leave them here to be revived later and continue wreaking havoc. We'll wrap them up and bring them to Albus. He'll decide what to do in the end."

He flicked his wand and a silvery ferret leapt from his wand and darted out of the building to the north. He then directed his wand toward the Death Eaters, and with a bang, cords sprang from the end of his wand and tied up all the Death Eaters together.

They waited in silence for a long while, and James wasn't sure exactly what they were supposed to be waiting for. Just before he was about to ask, though, a silvery phoenix appeared through the wall.

"My office," Dumbledore's voice spoke.

Still bewildered, James looked at Moody, but he appeared to understand the cryptic message.

"Sirius, your cloak," he growled.

Sirius removed it and tossed it to Moody. He caught it and tapped it with his wand. It glew blue for a second, and then the glow faded. "Okay, everyone, grab the cloak," he ordered.

He checked the Death Eaters, making sure they were all tied tightly enough to all be making contact with each other, then grabbed one of their arms. Emmeline (making contact with both Sturgis and Marlene), James, Sirius, and Remus all grabbed the cloak, and a moment later, James felt the pull behind his navel, and started spinning rapidly. After a couple of moments, James's feet slammed onto the ground in Dumbledore's office, and he barely managed to keep his balance. Dumbledore had cleared a space in the middle of the office for the five of them and the large stack of Death Eaters. Dumbledore flicked his wand and the Death Eaters disappeared. James wondered disconcertedly where Dumbledore had vanished them to. But he had no time to consider for long, as Dumbledore immediately went into action.

"James, Sirius, Remus, get Sturgis and Marlene down to the Hospital Wing. Emmeline, Alastor, I need a mission report."

James conjured two stretchers and hovered Sturgis and Marlene onto them and walked out of Dumbledore's office as Moody started to elaborate on the mission.

"I can't believe she's alive," Lupin said as soon as they were in the corridor.

"I just assumed they were all dead. Her two brothers' bodies were there. I mean, her and her cousin's body were both missing, but we all just figured the worst," Sirius mused.

"Do you think this means that Joshua could be alive too, then?" James asked, referring to her cousin.

"Unfortunately, I doubt it. I don't see why they would've kept him at a different location if they did capture him as well. And they most likely captured her instead of killing her to try to torture information on the Order out of her. They only need one survivor for that," Lupin replied darkly. A disgusted tone filled his voice.

"Do you think it's really possible that they could have permanent brain damage?" Sirius asked timidly, referring to what Emmeline had mentioned.

"I don't know. Typically the effects of the Cruciatus aren't long term, but with constant exposure to it for as long as they've been detained...who knows?" Lupin replied again.

"Gosh, even finding someone alive that we thought dead is still shrouded in this dark cloud. Can we not get any good news these days?" James said disgustedly as they arrived at the Hospital Wing and pushed the doors open. The question went unanswered.

An hour later, Madam Pomfrey was still tending over Sturgis and Marlene and had not told them anything. At some point, Dumbledore, Moody, and Emmeline joined them in the Hospital Wing. Emmeline asked if there were any updates on their condition, Lupin told them no, and no other talking had happened yet. James stared out the window at the horizon. The sun was just starting to rise, and James realized it had been almost a full 24 hours since he had slept. And yet, exhausted and weary as he felt, he couldn't fall asleep until he found out if Sturgis and Marlene would get better. He hoped to everything he could that they would. There had been a ray of hope when he had seen Marlene. A close friend and powerful witch that they had all assumed was dead turned out to be alive. It was the best news that they could've possibly hoped for. If it turned out she was permanently going to be in this catatonic state, James would probably lose it. His wife and son were goodness knows where, he wouldn't get to see them for goodness knows how long, Sturgis was captured, and then hope in the form of Sturgis being okay and Marlene miraculously being alive dangled in his face, and then instantly jerked away. It was maddening. They had to be okay. They absolutely _had_ to.

He looked over to Sirius, who was staring at Marlene resolutely. Marlene was very special to Sirius. When they were at Hogwarts, Sirius had pursued Marlene relentlessly. He had flirted with her every chance he got, even in the presence of (and to the extreme displeasure of) whatever girl he happened to be with at the time. Because none of them mattered to him, not really. He didn't ever have a serious relationship with any girl, because he only really cared about one girl. They never actually ended up together, but Sirius went from pursuing her and flirting with her constantly to seeing her as a true close friend near the end of their time at Hogwarts. If you asked James honestly, he thought Sirius still carried a torch for her, but, at least for the present, he was perfectly happy that they were such good friends. Sirius had been devastated when the McKinnons had been attacked. He had actually spent the night at the Potters' that night, and it seemed only a long play session with Harry was able to finally get him to smile again. If this disgusting game of dangling the hope of her being alive in front of James's face before cruelly snatching it away was eating him alive, he had no idea what Sirius must be feeling.

James looked around the room at his five companions, keeping silent vigil over Sturgis and Marlene as Madam Pomfrey bustled around them, muttering to herself, marking on a clipboard, and waving her wand. It was maddening to watch without knowing what was going on, whether the outlook was positive or negative. James felt like he needed to be doing something. He usually paced during times like this, but he knew it would just annoy the others and Madam Pomfrey, so he managed to contain himself. Just when he thought he was going to literally slip into madness, Madam Pomfrey set her clipboard and wand down, wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, and addressed Dumbledore.

"They will both make a full recovery," she said, and even the solemn and still somewhat grim tone of her voice didn't stop them all from cheering rather loudly. James couldn't stop the grin from taking over his face. This was the first real good news since Voldemort had shown up at their house, and he was relieved to know happiness was still a looked over at Sirius, who looked utterly relieved and exhausted, but there was a smile on his face. "But it will take a while. To avoid questions from the students, I'm going to have them sent to St. Mungo's. They will probably need to stay there for at least a couple of weeks, and there might be some amnesia that they'll have to deal with for the first week, but with the proper diet and potions, they should be back to full health in a month or two. I will let you all know what rooms they will be in at St. Mungo's once I get them transferred," she finished with a nod and headed to her office.

"Merlin! It feels great to finally hear some good news," Lupin said, mirroring James's thoughts.

"Is it alright if I stay here at the castle tonight, Professor?" James asked Dumbledore. He obviously didn't have a home to return to, and he wasn't sure he had the energy to travel anyway. Not when he'd have to walk all the way to Hogsmeade to be able to apparate.

"Of course. I trust you know of some place that's suitable for sleep other than the dorms?" Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye.

"I trust we may have a couple of ideas," Sirius said, his face breaking into a grin. It was a foregone conclusion that he and Lupin would be staying at the castle as well. James was grateful for that. He needn't even ask them; they knew he needed support and they were always willing to give it.

"I assumed as much," Dumbledore replied with a chuckle.

James got stood up with a yawn, and the three Marauders said good night (even though it was morning) to Dumbledore, Emmeline, and Moody, and walked out of the Hospital Wing. Then Lupin turned to them.

"The Room of Requirement?" he asked.

"Of course! Where else?" Sirius said with a grin, and they headed up the familiar staircases to the seventh floor.


	4. Chapter 3: The Marauder Gazette

_**-*-Lily-*-**_

Lily decided she would have to bite the bullet and get a sitter. Harry's random bursts of magic weren't terribly frequent. Maybe she would get lucky and he wouldn't have any while the sitter was watching him. And if he did, well, muggle born wizards and witches all over the place had random bursts of magic that their muggle parents found ways to try and explain away. Her parents had told her multiple stories about things she had done when she was really young and about the outlandish ways they tried to make sense of them.

However, the only problem was that she would need to pay a sitter. And she didn't have any money yet. She wouldn't until she worked some. And she needed the sitter to be able to work some. So she had to figure out something.

But, beyond that, there was the more pressing matter: Harry was hungry. He hadn't eaten in nearly 24 hours. He had been crying very hard for quite a while, and it was not helping Lily find a solution to the problem at all. For that matter, Lily hadn't eaten in just as long either. But she didn't need sustenance as badly as Harry did. When she realized that she didn't have any other option that she could think of, she decided she would have to apparate to a wizarding town and order food and bring it back. Luckily, Harry didn't need a lot of food, as he was still very small. So she could order a normal adult meal, and use preservation charms to keep it edible and split it into at least five or six meals.

She figured she could probably go to the Three Broomsticks. Not only was it on the complete other side of the country, but it was also linked to Hogwarts. It would give no hints as to her current location. It was definitely a very far distance to apparate, but she had never had any trouble apparating, so she felt confident she wouldn't run into any problems. In fact, if Death Eaters _did_ find out she had been there, the long distance apparition would probably be very beneficial, as they would typically assume she was much closer.

What distressed Lily most of all was that she would have to leave Harry alone while she went to get food. She had already risked side along apparition with him enough, and certainly wasn't going to risk it at such a long distance. Luckily, as it was a Sunday and nearly three in the afternoon, as long as it wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend at Hogwarts, the Three Broomsticks would be fairly empty, and she would be able to get the food rather quickly.

She looked down at Harry, who apparently noticed her forlorn expression, as he took a pause in his crying. The first pause in over an hour. She looked at his wet green eyes that directly mirrored hers, and her heart ached.

"I know you're hungry, my beautiful baby, and I know you miss daddy. I miss him, too. And I know you are probably scared, being in such unfamiliar surroundings. I'm scared, too. But daddy is safe, and so are we. That's what's important."

Harry's mouth turned into a frown. He obviously did not find these facts as important as Lily did. His blissful ignorance of the situation in their world made her hope with everything she had that he retained that innocence. That he could continue to think the most important thing in the world was getting his meals and getting enough play time each day. He deserved to grow up in a world where they didn't have to look over their shoulder every minute of every day, or have to think of eighteen different horrible scenarios just to find out how to get their next meal. She desperately wished that they could rid the world of Voldemort before Harry was old enough to know what was going on beyond his own needs and wants.

 _ **-*-James-*-**_

James slowly navigated the limbo between sleep and wakefulness, groggily rolling over in the bed to put his arm around Lily. When his arms fell limply onto the bed, and he realized the bed was empty besides himself, his mind finally left sleep behind and he was fully awake. He sat up, frowning, looking around his bedroom. But he wasn't in his bedroom. He was in a room that looked an awful lot like his dorm from Gryffindor Tower, but there were only three beds. Then, suddenly, the events of the last 24 hours came back to him, like a punch in the gut, only ten times worse.

He looked at the clock on the wall. It was about three in the afternoon. He assumed it was Sunday. He had only been apart from Lily and Harry for about sixteen hours, and yet, he longed for them as if it had been weeks. On top of that, he knew it would be many more days, weeks, probably even months, maybe even _years_ until he would be with them again, and that thought made him want to fall back on the bed and just black out until their time apart was over. He felt like someone had vanished his heart, and wasn't going to give it back for years. How was he supposed to continue living?

But James didn't fall back on the bed. He couldn't. The sooner this war was over, the sooner he would see them again. Which meant he would be as formidable as possible. He would do everything he could to end this as soon as possible. He would be the most passionate, the most available, the most prepared member of the Order. If Dumbledore needed someone for a mission, he would be the man for the job. Because his only focus, his only goal now, was to bring down Voldemort and see his family again.

The others weren't in the room anymore. James wondered if they were still in the castle, or if they had returned home. He actually felt a little stung. They had stayed the night to be his support system, and yet left him there all alone for when he woke up. He reached out to his nightstand, and opened the top drawer. As he had expected (the Room of Requirement was so incredible), his possessions were in it. Those possessions included a certain enchanted mirror, and he was a moment away from grabbing it and demanding to know where Sirius went when the door flung open, and Sirius and Remus ventured in, their arms laden with a rather obscene amount of food.

"Prongs, you're finally awake!" Remus said cheerily, dropping the food on his bed. Sirius followed suit.

"Just got back from the kitchens. Ran into Shacklebolt on our way back. Remember him? He's in seventh year now. Chatted with him a bit. He seems to be a very talented wizard. Might make a good addition to the Order, if this all isn't over when he graduates. Wants to be an auror, and I guess at this point, the Order's pretty much the same thing. Though, obviously, that's up to Dumbledore, not us," Sirius rambled as he picked up a turkey leg and bit off a generous chunk.

James had been ridiculous. Of course they hadn't abandoned him. They were getting food from the kitchens. Clearly, enough food for all three of them. Plus a good dozen more by the looks of it, but you could never tell with Sirius. He could eat his weight in food if he was hungry enough.

"What about the Weasleys' kid? Will, is it? He started this year, didn't he?" James asked, wishing he had a plate, picking up the one that appeared on his bed, and loading it up with food. He was starved.

"Bill. And no, he hasn't turned 11 yet, so he'll be starting next year," Remus replied.

"So, what's our next move? Peter's still out there, so obviously, we all want revenge. But, more importantly, you're stuck with just us right now, which can't be pleasant. How do we go about getting Harry and Lily back?" Sirius asked.

No matter how many times he thought about it, James could never express how grateful he was to have friends like Sirius and Remus. Sirius, instinctively without having to ask, knew exactly what James's priorities would be, and without so much as a second thought, would do anything to help James achieve them.

"Unfortunately, the only way to do that is to take down Voldemort and end this war. Lily and I had discussed if something like this happened," he started.

He had mentioned to them that night that he wouldn't get to see Harry and Lily until the war was over, but that was in the heat of the moment. Apparently, they thought it was a side effect of the panic. So he figured it was time to explain to them exactly why he couldn't see them again while the war was continuing. He waved his wand and a previously invisible chain around his neck appeared, and he showed it to them. At the end of it was a small ball of thin glass, about the size of a marble. He then tucked it into his robes. He had no use for it anymore, but he couldn't bear to cast it aside. He associated it with Lily, so until he had her back, it was a deeply important treasure.

"We enchanted the charm. Lily had the same kind of necklace and charm. If anything ever happened to either of us while the other was asleep, or in the couple of times where one of us had to leave the house, we would smash the charm. The other charm would emit an alarm, and the anti-apparition wards on our house would break. The other one would grab Harry and leave. This is basically the same situation. And we agreed that if it that happened, we would do anything to keep Harry safe. That includes the Fidelius Charm on wherever she has taken him. There is no way for her to get the location to me without risking it somehow being intercepted. We even agreed not to send a Patronus to each other for it. If we did, we couldn't be sure who would hear the message. She doesn't know where I am, so for all she knew, I could be in a battle with a Death Eater or a traitor to the Order could be around me. If she sent a Patronus, they could hear it, too, and they'd be in danger again. So, with no way for me to know where she went and the Fidelius Charm keeping me from finding out, and her not having any way to contact me, we're separated until Harry isn't in danger anymore. We had prepared for this to happen, but it doesn't make it suck any less."

Before he knew it, he had two sets of arms wrapped around him.

"Get off me, ya gits," he grumbled, though he very much appreciated the gesture, and they knew he did.

"Well, you sure know how to beat around the bush, Prongs," Sirius said after a while of silence.

"What do you mean?" James asked, nonplussed.

"Well, I ask you a simple question. What do we do to get Harry and Lily back. Then you went into this long story when you could've just answered the question outright. All we have to do is defeat Voldemort," Sirius said, as if he'd just suggested the easiest thing in the world. James couldn't suppress a grin.

"The only problem is that we don't even know where Voldemort is. As if, even if we did, we could just barge in, do some fancy wandwork, and he'd be defeated just like that," James said.

"Well, if we can't get to him, we'll have to get him to come to us," Sirius said.

"How do we do that?" Remus asked. "He's got control of the _Daily Prophet,_ the Ministry, and probably over half the population, either by choice or by the Imperius Curse. He doesn't have to do anything in person. As far as we know, besides when he came to attack you, the only time he's done anything in person was when he murdered Dorcas."

His voice got a little shaky at the end. Dorcas had been a close friend to them all. James suspected Remus might have had a crush on her, but with Remus, it was hard to tell. He never considered himself worthy of anyone's feelings, so he never would've acted on any crush. Because of his unwillingness to act, it made any showing of affection that would hint at a crush strictly impossible. James's heart ached for his friend.

"We antagonize him. He's obsessed with his superiority. We can goad him into a fight," Sirius said.

As stupid as goading Voldemort into a fight sounded to James, desperate times call for desperate measures. "How do you suggest we do that?"

He's answered by silence. Remus and Sirius are both deep in thought, trying to think of a way to go about this. So, never one to be left out, James starts thinking, too. No one knew where Voldemort was. That was the whole problem to begin with. So, how to antagonize someone without ever seeing them in person. There were only two ways that James could think of.

As if reading his mind, Sirius said, "The paper and the wireless."

"But Voldemort controls the _Prophet_ and we don't have a radio show, in case you hadn't noticed," Remus pointed out.

"Oh, Moony, you disappoint me. Such a lack of creativity!" Sirius said. "We can write our own paper and syndicate our own show," he finished as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Remus looked like someone had smacked him, but somehow in a humorous way. James barely held in a laugh at his expression.

"Padfoot, your penchant for the obvious never ceases to amaze me. But you're forgetting a certain thing called _resources_ that we, oh, you know, _don't have_ ," Remus replied once he got over his gobsmacked expression.

"Resources? Don't have? Moony, we're in the middle of _Hogwarts_! All these kids, with nothing important to do, we can have them help!" Sirius said.

"Nothing important, just classes, exams, OWLs, and NEWTs," Remus said, still bordering somewhere between annoyed and amused.

"Exactly, nothing important!" James repeated, unable to avoid seeing the humor in the back-and-forth between his best friends.

Remus shook his head exasperatedly, but seemed to give in anyway.

"Okay, Sirius, how do you propose we do this?" he said seriously. The lack of their Marauder nicknames seemed to express the severity of the situation.

"You remember that school paper a couple of students tried to start when we were in seventh year? It never got much traction, but they released a couple of papers. One third year girl was on the staff, I just can't remember her name. She would still be here, now. In seventh year. She can help us with publishing the paper, and if we spread it around this school, it won't take long to get it out to the rest of the country. As humble as I always am, I still admit we were rather popular in our day at school. We should be able to right a couple of awesome articles that have students sharing with their parents," Sirius explained, as if he had been putting this plan together for months. He continued, "Once it gains traction, we use it as an alternative news source. Publish real stuff going on that the _Prophet_ either twists or tries to hide. But, always, the front page will be _something_ to piss Voldemort off. Get under his skin."

"Padfoot, that's actually brilliant," Remus said, and Sirius didn't hide how pleased he was with the compliment.

"What about the radio show?" James asked.

"Actually, now that I think about it, I might be able to help with that part," Remus intoned. "Dumbledore had me trying to spend more time with werewolves for the Order, and I got really close with a guy who had dabbled in broadcasting before he got bit and had to go underground. I think he actually worked with a station one time. He should be able to help us figure out how to syndicate a wireless show."

"This is brilliant!" James said excitedly. A few hours with his friends, and they had plans. Plans that weren't just "Do better in the war". Plans that could actually get him to his family. His legal family. These two were just as much his family, though. He would be lost without them.

"It was Cynthia something, wasn't it?" Sirius asked. He was apparently still trying to remember who it was that could help with the paper.

"Come on Padfoot, how can you possibly not remember little Cynthia Stone?! Remember, she had a crush on Moony? We teased him endlessly about it!" James said, laughing.

"I was really hoping you would remember that," Remus said with a grimace as Sirius roared with laughter.

"Come now, Moony! She's in seventh year now. Not so little anymore. Maybe you could ask her out now," Sirius said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Shut up, git. Let's just figure out how we're going to find her in the castle and ask her about doing the paper. We should probably avoid Dumbledore. I don't know if he would approve goading Voldemort into a fight," Remus replied.

"That's probably true. What about your friend with the wireless experience?" James asked.

"I'll go to the Owlery today and write him a letter. We probably need to find Cindy today to ask her about the paper. I'm sure Dumbledore doesn't mind housing us here, but we probably need to not intrude on him much longer," Remus said.

"Yeah, you're right. Besides, I want to go visit Marlene tomorrow. Why don't you both just stay with me for now? Prongs, you need a place to stay, and Moony, we'll need you there all the time to help us out with the wireless show and paper. It'll be just like old times, all living together," Sirius said happily. James didn't have the heart or strength to tell him it _wouldn't_ be just like old times without Peter.

"That sounds like a plan to me. Thanks, mate. As for Cyndi, she was in Hufflepuff, if I remember correctly. We should just hang out near the Hufflepuff Common Room after dinner tonight and catch her then. I'm sure she'll be happy to be interrupted from her walk to the common room if it's Remus," James said with a smirk. Remus glared at him, and Sirius laughed again.

When they managed to pick out Cyndi Stone from a crowd of Hufflepuffs on their way to the Hufflepuff Common Room after dinner, they saw that Sirius was definitely right about her not being little anymore. She was drop dead gorgeous. Not as beautiful as Lily, of course, but James couldn't blame Sirius for being stunned speechless when they spotted her, standing rather stupidly with his mouth hanging open.

She was very tall, around 5'9". She had curly dark hair that was streaked with a highlight of blonde on the right. The blonde highlight somehow brought out the hazel in her eyes, and she had a perfect smile. She was chatting happily with a group of Hufflepuffs, all fellow females, which comically reminded James of how Lily always seemed to be surrounded by other girls when he wanted to ask her out. It never did stop him from calling her out and making a fool of himself anyway. Nor did it stop Remus from calling out to her this time. James wondered if he, in spite of his earlier protestations, was thinking about the fact that Cyndi was now extremely attractive and _had_ had quite the crush on him in the not too distant past. 4 years didn't seem all that inappropriate of an age difference.

"Cyndi!" he called and she turned, and looked properly shocked to see them in the school. She waved her friends forward and walked over to them, looking suspicious and confused.

"Remus? What on earth are you all doing in Hogwarts?" she asked.

"Long story," James said simply. Explaining everything that had happened was not only burdensome, but also not exactly allowed. All Order operations were top secret. You never could know how would overhear, and whose parents may be sympathetic to Voldemort's cause. Luckily, they knew for a fact Cyndi's weren't, as they were both Muggles.

"We just needed your help with something, if you would be willing to offer it," Remus said politely. Sirius was just now shutting his mouth and seeming to come to. James barely stifled another laugh.

"Of course! I'd love to help in any way I can! I remember you four when you guys were at Hogwarts. You always spoke out rather powerfully against You-Know-Who. It was really inspiring for us younger students who were so scared of everything going on. If what you need help with has to do with the war, consider me your ally!" she said excitedly. The fact that she somehow instinctively picked up on the nature of their request was startlingly perceptive.

"Well, it has to do with the war. Kind of. Indirectly. If you get what I mean," Sirius said. He was stuttering a bit, and James couldn't hold the laugh in now. Cyndi quirked an eyebrow at him. Sirius resigned to shut up and just flashed his most charming grin at her. She seemed unimpressed.

"First, do you remember the paper you worked on back in third year?" James asked.

"Yeah, the _Hogwarts Daily Caller_. That was fun! It was always a shame we never got very far with it," she said, frowning at the memory.

"Well, we were hoping you could help us to publish a paper and maybe help to distribute it around Hogwarts and encourage people with wizarding parents to share it with them. We wanted it to kind of become an alternate source of news to the rubbish the _Prophet_ publishes these days. An honest side to news, not under Voldemort's thumb," James explained.

After a minute of thought, Cyndi replied, "Yeah, sounds wicked. I'd love to help. Though, distributing a little known paper will be hard with students who don't have a lot of money. How much were you thinking of charging for it? It'd have to be cheaper that a _Prophet_ subscription, and those are pretty cheap already. A lot of the students can't really _see_ the bias from the _Prophet_. It's hard when it's the only news we get."

James was a little startled at the overflowing of information from the girl. She seemed extremely perceptive and knowledgeable. It made James wonder how students were keeping up with things going on outside the castle if, as she said, the _Prophet_ was supposed to be their only source of news. He had a suspicion students had probably started organizations that found other ways to be informed. The Marauders themselves had started a similar thing among the sixth and seventh year Gryffindors when they were in school.

"Oh, we weren't looking to charge for it. Completely free, just there for people to see what's really going on," Sirius said, no longer sounding like the dumbstruck, hormonal guy he had a minute earlier. James nearly frowned at the change. He was thoroughly enjoying the entertainment of watching Sirius fall over himself over a girl they had once teased Remus about.

"Oh! Well then that should be pretty easy to spread, then. I know of plenty of students who are already looking for alternate sources of information. A bunch of my friends and I get together every night to talk about what they've heard from their parents that are caught up in the war. It's stressful and sometimes really depressing, but it's better than being blind like a lot of the other students. They'll jump at a chance to get real news for free, and once all of them are seen with the paper, it should be easier to spread to all the ones I mentioned earlier that don't see the bias of the _Prophet_ , again, especially since it's free. Will it just be you three writing articles, or do you have others lined up? I would be able to help write pieces just to draw in a more general audience. To bring in the uninterested students, we would have to have pieces that are more entertainment than news," she said, all very quickly. It was astonishing to see her jump into the idea so thoroughly that she was outpacing them.

"Uh, well, we just thought of the idea earlier today. We hadn't actually thought that far," Sirius said sheepishly.

"No worries, you can worry about all of that later. You guys are all hilarious, I'm sure you'll be able to write perfectly entertaining articles. Just be sure to write those as well, not just news pieces. I can be editor if you guys want. You can just send all your articles to me, I'll arrange them all, handle the printing, and add my own, and send them all to you once I've arranged them for your final approval. Once you give me the okay on each issue, I can go ahead and start distributing them around the school. Does that sound good?"

James looked at Remus and Sirius and was happy to see they were just as dumbfounded as he was. When they talked about getting Cyndi's help, they had no idea she would jump on the idea so earnestly.

"Yeah, that sounds good. This isn't the first time you've thought about starting a new paper to spread around Hogwarts, is it?" Remus asked.

"That obvious, is it?" she asked, laughing. "No, I had been talking to some of my friends about doing it since last year, but couldn't find anyone else who wanted to write for it. You guys are out there, and I know you have it much harder than we do, sheltered here, but you don't understand just how sheltered we really are. The teachers want to shield us from what's going on, and the _Prophet_ doesn't report how bad things are, obviously. It makes everything seem fine, and then throws in subtle jabs at Muggleborns like myself here and there, and so many students don't even realize it. It's maddening. You guys showing up and saying you want to do a paper and want my help is almost too good to be true. To be able to start doing something already even from here within Hogwarts will feel amazing."

"Well, are you sure you should be so quick to agree?" James asked, feeling like he should make sure Cyndi understood what she was so eagerly signing up for. "I don't want to sell this idea as something it isn't. This is going to be dangerous. Voldemort will take a paper challenging the _Prophet_ as a direct challenge to his own superiority, and we intend to make that plain. We will be writing some pretty inflammatory stuff about him to piss him off even more. Honestly, 'dangerous' doesn't even subscribe it. This is practically suicidal."

"Gryffindors aren't the only brave ones," she said with pride. "There are quite a few of us that are eager to get into the war as soon as we leave these walls. There are secret dueling clubs and secret societies all over this school interested in brushing up on their skills. We have to be hush-hush about it, because there are a lot of other students that are eager to join that evil git, and even more students who are willfully blind about all of it. But there are many of us that want to fight!"

"You know, Cyndi, you're incredible!" Remus said, and she blushed.

"Okay, but you will need to write under a pseudonym at least. We're glad you are interested in fighting, but don't make it more dangerous than it needs to be," Sirius said.

"Okay, I will. And honestly, now that I will only have to ask them for an article every now and then, instead of being mainstay writers as I was asking them before, I could also probably get some of my friends to participate some in this. Again, I'll always send to you guys for approval first. Feel free to strike down or edit any of my friends' or my articles that you don't like. We won't take it personally. Also, what do you want to call the paper? Branding is important! Honestly, you just probably brand it as something to do with the "Marauders". That'll make a lot of us older students that remember you guys from when you were here more eager to read it, as well as make it easier to spread around other people your age that are already out of school. You guys were pretty much the height of popularity," Cyndi said matter-of-factly. Despite her meaning it seriously and not specifically meaning to compliment them, James still grinned, Sirius still threw his chest out proudly, and Remus still looked bashful.

"Hmm, as much as I'd like to give it a witty name, I think we should stick with something simple so the older people that read it will know they're getting real updates in the news sections. So how about just _The Marauder Gazette_?" Remus suggested.

"That works fine for me! And what about Peter? Will he be in on it as well?" Cyndi asked.

"No, he most certainly won't!" James said, unable to keep the anger out of his voice. Cyndi took a small step back, and took the hint and acted like she hadn't even asked.

"Okay, so how often will you be publishing? A consistent schedule always helps," she said.

"Hmm, do you guys think we can keep it up weekly?" James asked.

"I don't know. It's hard to say how often we'll be able to write. We may become...busy...for days at a time," Sirius said with a meaningful look towards Cyndi out of the corner of his eyes. The meaning was clear. They might be away on missions for the Order for extended periods of times where they wouldn't be able to write.

"Okay, how about biweekly?" Remus suggested. After some thought, both James and Sirius agreed with a nod.

"Great! Which one of you should I send any updates and the finished newspaper for edits to?" Cyndi asked.

"Doesn't matter, we'll all be at the same place," James replied.

"Okay, awesome. I look forward to your first submissions. I really should be getting to bed, though, it's gotten quite late. It was great seeing you all again!" she said, flashing a dazzling smile and continuing down to the end of the corridor, where she tapped a barrel a few times with her wand and climbed in when it opened.

"Well, that couldn't have gone any better. Hopefully your wireless friend's reply will be as enthusiastic," James said to Remus as they headed up the stairs back to the Room of Requirement. They decided they would stay there one last night, and head to Sirius's place in the morning.

 _ **A/N: Sorry for waiting so long before updating! I will try to be better in the future!**_


End file.
